New Japan Cup Second Round Set

The first round of the New Japan Cup has come to a close. As a result, the tournament’s second round will now commence.

We now know every second round matchup. The winners of each of these matches will advance to the tournament quarterfinals. There were minimal upset victories in the first round this year. The only notable upset came when Chase Owens defeated IWGP United States Champion Juice Robinson.

The most notable match set for the second round is Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. While most matches appear to be fairly one-sided, Ibushi and Sabre have a history of great matches together. Sabre defeated Ibushi en route to winning last year’s tournament, while Ibushi has beaten Sabre in the last two G1 Climaxes.

The lineups for the second round of the New Japan Cup are as follows:

Wednesday, March 13th –

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Taichi

YOSHI-HASHI vs. Chase Owens

Thursday, March 14th –

Kazuchika Okada vs. Mikey Nicholls

Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer

Saturday, March 16th –

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Sunday, March 17th –

SANADA vs. Minoru Suzuki

Colt Cabana vs. Toru Yano

What match in the New Japan Cup second round are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments below, on Twitter or on Discord!